Littering caused by people raiding public bins for plastic bottles and aluminium cans since the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is costing Dublin City Council (DCC) almost €1,000 a day.
The claim was contained in a briefing note prepared for chief executive Richard Shakespeare by Barry Woods, the council’s head of waste management services, on June 3rd.
The document, titled Financial Impact of the DRS on Dublin City Council Waste Management Services, said the scheme had resulted in the “co-ordinated misuse” of public bins by people seeking to recover containers for profit.
Woods said “five or six” workers out of about 50 on duty were being diverted from their usual tasks for one hour “to cope with the consequences of the scavenging”.
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He estimated the cost of this diversion was €332 per eight-hour shift or €996 over the course of every 24-hour cleaning cycle.
“Public litter bins across the city are being interfered with daily,” wrote Woods. “Locks and access mechanisms are being damaged, and bin contents are being removed and deposited on surrounding footpaths so that returnable containers can be located and collected.”
This has resulted in damage to bins, increased littering on city streets, repeated littering of areas that have already been cleaned and additional pressure on waste management resources, he said.
Woods referred to bin surrounds, which were installed in some locations to allow people place returnable containers in these rather than depositing them inside bins, thereby removing the incentive to interfere with waste containers.
However, he said these had had “limited impact” and were “frequently used for general litter disposal, including coffee cups and cigarette waste”. The bin surrounds were “not fulfilling their intended function”.
He noted €115,000 had also been spent on new locks for 116 big belly bins around the city in an effort to prevent scavengers from accessing waste.
He said these “direct costs” being incurred by the council were likely to continue “unless a solution is reached to this problem” and also highlighted the “wider impacts” of the phenomenon.
These included negative visual impact on the city, damage to its image and reputation, reduced perception of cleanliness and safety, potential impact on tourism and visitor experience.
“While difficult to quantify, these reputational impacts may have longer-term economic consequences for the city,” he added in the briefing note, which was released by DCC under the Freedom of Information Act.
A spokeswoman for Re-turn, the operator of the DRS, said it was engaging with the council “to support the shared objective of cleaner streets, higher recycling rates and practical solutions that work for Dublin city”.
A DCC spokesman said the costings had been contained in a “very detailed report” and are “accurate”.
